Our book marking the 50th
anniversary of the club is still available from A.M.Grieves,
Newsagents, High Street, Moffat and a few other outlets.
Alternatively you can order by post and for this you should
contact Iain directly for an order form and pricing information.
We also have souvenir button badges (50p each) and car window
stickers (£1.50 each) showing the new club logo. These
are only available from A.M.Grieves and, again, mail order
can be accommodated if you contact Iain.
5th May 2013
Our Coffee Morning yesterday raised the excellent
total of £1650. The money raised will go a long way
towards the ongoing upkeep and improvements to Dyke Farm
Nature Reserve. As always, our thanks go to all who helped
provide the catering, man the stalls and sell raffle tickets.
Further grateful thanks to all who contributed items for
the stalls & raffles and especially to Peter Bowsher
for his generous donation of the carving of a Peregrine
Falcon which, incidentally, was won by Garry Tait - after
a lifetime of watching Peregrines he now has one to watch
him! But most importantly, our thanks go to everyone who
came along and spent their precious pennies so generously.
Thank you, one and all.
Community Reserve Open Day - Saturday, 18th May
from 1.00-3.00pm. Everyone is invited to attend.
The schedule is as follows:
1:00pm Welcome and refreshments
1:10pm Children’s craft activities by RSPB
1:15pm Guided walk
2:00pm Talk - water birds at the wader scrape
2:30pm Book reading by Angus Sinclair
3:00pm Close
15th April 2013
A summary from Iain of sightings over the past month
or so -
Feb 2nd -A Bullfinch at the feeding station beside the tool
shed at the Reserve and John Smith also had one in his garden
at Greenwood Close, while Scott Little from Beattock regularly
had up to 5 Lesser Redpoll, 24 Siskin and a regular Brambling.
Garry had a few Goosander and a Goldeneye on the Quarry
lochan which had seen the Great Crested Grebes return earlier
in the week. A Raven overflew Moffat in the morning while
I was doing my paper round.
Feb 13th - the pond at the bottom end of The Kerr held 9
Snipe, 2 Teal, 4 Mallard and 2 Canada Geese. While the seasonally
flooded meadow on the Quarry had 5 Canada Geese, 8 Snipe,
2 Teal and 2 Mallard.
Feb 14th - I heard first returning Oystercatchers.
Feb 15th - at the Quarry lochan, Garry had 9 Oystercatchers
including 1 on the raft and a good count of 16 Goosanders.
A few days earlier I had a report of a few Lapwing near
Bearholm.
Feb 19th - as confirmation that our work to clear the islands
on our wetland of trees and vegetation was neccessary was
the first Oystercatcher on one of the islands for many years.
March 2nd - Very large movement of Pinkfeet over Moffat
and 5 Whooper Swans early in the morning.
March 6th - 22 Oystercatchers on the Quarry reserve.
March 9th - the Quarry lochan had 9 Teal, 2 Mallard, 2 Tufted,
1 Goosander, 3 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant and 17 Oystercatchers.
March 13th -15 Curlew on the Quarry meadow.
March 15th - Garry had a male Shoveler with a small flock
of Teal on the Quarry lochan.
March 20th - Meadow Pipits were on the move. 31 Oystercatchers
and 2 Great Crested Grebe were at the Quarry.
April 3rd - people were still reporting small numbers of
Brambling still visiting gardens quite late on in the season
possibly due to the cold weather for early Spring. Badgers
and Foxes were being seen regularly.
April 6th - Janet Little had an Osprey over Beattock.
April 9th - Alison Murray and Anne Murray in the Mansfield
area saw an unusual sighting of a single Red Legged Partridge
feeding with the usual garden birds. A Sparrowhawk in the
area was also seen to hit a greenhouse very hard but survived.
Jimmy Aitchison watched the bird hit the greenhouse with
an almighty thud! April 14th - at our own Reserve there
were numerous frogs heading down ditches and across the
woodland floor towards their breeding ponds. Two Skylarks
flew over and 4 Canada Geese were also around.
April 14th - Lindsay Bowman saw a Sand Martin near Lockerbie
and he also saw a Wheatear on Dyke Farm.
April 15th - John, in Greenwood Close, had the unusual sight
of 3 male Blackcaps visiting regularly in the morning, also
1 female briefly. Frogs arrived in his pond on Saturday,
spawned Sunday and all but gone again by today. A month
later than normal and wasted no time!
This will the last update for two weeks - John is off on
his travels to Italy again!
22nd March 2013
COREHEAD PLANTING CANCELLED
The planting session planned for tomorrow has been cancelled
due to frozen ground and tree plugs plus the extreme discomfort
of wind-chill. A new date will be arranged in due course.
15th March 2013
Borders Forest Trust is again asking for volunteers
for a Tree Planting Day at Corehead on Saturday, 23rd March,
10.00am - 3.00pm. For those without their own transport,
a minibus will leave from the Moffat Ram at 9.45am. Suitable
clothing and a packed lunch needed. Contact Phil Roe on
07713 566295 or the BFT office on 01835 830750 for details/booking.
Event may be cancelled at short notice if weather is unsuitable.
There has been good numbers of Oystercatcher and Curlew
hanging around the quarry, our own reserve and the surrounding
fields lately - more than we have seen for a few years.
A very encouraging sign considering how scarce they are
becoming. We can only hope that some settle and successfully
nest in the vicinity. We are also seeing quite a bit of
activity by Mallard, Teal & Moorhen on our islands,
now that they have been cleared of the overgrowth, and around
the northern end of the wetland. The open aspect may, hopefully,
also entice back Canada Geese, Oystercatcher and smaller
waders such as Sandpipers, etc, that have become absent
from our reserve in recent years.
28th February 2013
John has now posted the graphs showing garden bird
sighting frequency over the past four years. The information
is in the usual PDF format and can be viewed by clicking
here.
Better late than never - we have an appeal from Corehead
for volunteers for Saturday, 2nd March, from 10am to 3pm,
to assist in tree planting & maintenance. Bus leaves
from the Ram at 0945 for those without their own transport.
Contact Phil Roe on 07713 566295 or the BFT office on 01835
830750.
20th February 2013
Andy has now also sent us the 2012 annual mammal
report for Dumfries & Galloway. Also in PDF format,
you can view it by clicking
here.
14th February 2013
Andy Riches has forwarded the annual (2012) wildlife
report for Castle Loch & Hightae Loch. We have put it
up here should you wish to read it. The report is in PDF
format so will open with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Click here to view it.
4th February 2013
At about 12.45 today, John had a very clear, full
view, sighting of a Hawfinch in the garden in Greenwood
Close. One for our record books!
2nd February 2013
January update from Iain:
4th - 2 Whooper Swans over Moffat while out doing my paper
round in the morning.
5th - a massive movement of Pink-footed Geese involving
thousands of birds. Lots of Fieldfare and Redwing in and
around the reserve too.
10th - a Grey Squirrel was seen in Tank Wood by George Edwards.
11th - a white Fallow Deer seen in the Oakriggside area
with a small herd of Fallow Deer.
18th - Garry had a small flock of 8 Snow Bunting in the
Greenhillstairs area.
30th - Garry saw a Long Eared Owl at Moffat Cemetery.
A number of gardens in our area have been visited by small
numbers of Brambling, no large flocks but many people getting
up to 6 birds, and there were some visiting the reserve
feeding stations on the 30th.
22nd November 2012
As you may have seen in the press, there is concern
about a new strain of Avian Pox on the go. This mainly affects
Tits, especially Great Tits. This virus has come to Britain
from Europe and is believed to be insect borne. Its effect
is in tumour-like growths on the bird, particularly around
the head, neck and shoulders. In most cases an infected
bird will die. At this time, the area affected is England,
from the Midlands southwards, and across into Wales. It
has spread from its original discovery in southeast England
over only a few years. It may well continue to spread northwards
and affect birds here in the not too distant future.
If you see a Tit with apparent growths, please contact the
RSPB Wildlife Enquiries Unit with details. They can be reached
via email (wildlife@rspb.org.uk) or via telephone 01767
693690 (Mon-Fri, 9-5). Fuller details can be found from
many on-line sources.
Meantime, please ensure you keep your bird feeders clean
and disinfected - it helps prevent the spread of many bird
diseases.
10th November 2012
Just a couple of sightings - Near Templand on Monday
5th November there was a small flock of 20 Brambling with
many Chaffinch and quite a few Jay to be seen heading back
to Moffat on the Lochmaben Road. Garry had 9 Waxwing near
Millhousebridge and Dave Dick saw at least 1 Waxwing in
the East Gate area......so keep an eye on your berry trees!!
7th November 2012
An appeal by the Scottish Wildlife Trust - Save Our Bees
- your help appreciated
The Trust has launched a campaign today regarding calling
for a halt in the use of a neurotoxic chemical (neonicotinoids)
on crops in Scotland because of the increasing evidence
which shows that they are harmful to
insect pollinators. Our Chief Executive has written to the
Cabinet Secretary, Richard Lochhead, asking the Scottish
Government to place a moratorium on their use.
We want as many people as possible to email the Cabinet
Secretary to ask for the moratorium.
The link to the email is:
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/how-you-can-help/appeals-and-campaigns/act-now-to-help-save-our-bees/
There is also a link to the letter and a briefing explaining
the problem with the insecticide. If you have any queries
please get in touch. But I would be very grateful if you
could spread the news as wide as possible so
he gets bombarded with emails.
Many thanks,
Dr Maggie Keegan
Head of Policy
T 0131 312 4762 M 07739 428213 W www.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk
Harbourside House, 110 Commercial Street, Edinburgh EH6
6NF
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scottishwildlifetrust
If you follow the above link, simply add your name, address
and contact information then click the 'Submit'
button to send the email.
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